Insights, Strategy & the Idea
For Volkswagen of America, 2011 is a crucial year with major launches paving the way for aggressive volume goals over the next five years. This included the new Passat model to continue re-positioning the value of the VW brand.

VW brand’s heritage and cultural relevance are one of its best assets. People love the brand, but they also need more rational reasons to consider and eventually buy.

While the Super Bowl ensures blockbuster reach, we also wanted to leverage consumer behaviour around the game to not only create buzz, but also extend the dialogue about the brand.

But this isn’t just about additional presence of the fantastic creative. Instead, we decided to use this as an opportunity to tell people more about VOLKSWAGEN, including product features about the Passat--all at a time when we knew they would be a little more open to listening.

Creative Execution
First, we turned VW’s Super Bowl spots into a highly anticipated event. We seeded teaser videos--and eventually the entire spot--online a week before the game, and placed the commercial with custom editorial content on online hubs like Yahoo! and MSN.

As buzz mounted, we monitored the social space to ensure ownership of key search terms, leveraged Volkswagen-owned social channels, and sustained excitement through a retargeting strategy.

To capitalize on buzz, we secured exclusive ownership of sports network ESPN’s mobile site the day of the Super Bowl. We also secured the coveted YouTube homepage the day after the game.

Within all of these placements, we drove consumers to our “Inside the VW Academy” web series to learn more about VW and the new Passat features. We also aggressively targeted consumers searching for competitive brands.

Finally, media support behind a retail sales message was moved up in February to drive people to showrooms.

Results and Effectiveness
It was a risk--turning the traditional idea of the “big reveal” during the Super Bowl upside down by purposely leaking our creative one week prior to the game

But by tapping into the power of television, online, social media, search and mobile, our insights-driven strategy and ability to drive its momentum paid off...with outstanding results across-the board!